Photo - Mayor Bloomberg and Yankee Ace Roger Clemens June 2003

Phil Levine:
I can remember the first time I went to Yankee Stadium… and I'd heard so much about it. I grew up in Detroit so of course I loathed the Yankees, they were constantly beating us. But when I walked into that stadium and saw the grass and the crowd was rising and sitting and cheering, I thought, well, what an incredible place this is, no wonder they play so well here.

I'm going to bring you this morning a poem I just discovered about the New York Yankees. It was written by Anne Marie Macari who was born in Queens and now lives in New Jersey. And it's a poem not only about the New York Yankees but about baseball and about sport and the way it can bring people together in a powerful bond and the joy it can give you- especially when your team wins.

Yankees
by Anne Marie Macari

For beauty, the men came toward us across the field,
and when they stood trance-still, or when they backed
hard against the wall, it seemed part of some
greater design, or when one swung, twisting
his torso and bending his knees at the same time
as the ball flew and the crowd erupted,
I was in thrall to all of them, because they held back
Then hit for their lives, because one gently lifted
his arm to meet the ball as if his own child
were falling toward him through thin air.
I even laughed at the men throwing beer
which drizzled onto my hair, and the one
yelling obscenitites at the other team.
The blinding lights helped me see
their perfection, and I became a devotee-
not just for the sake of my sons, my arms around them-
though it was strange to be a women then,
to love them that much, the arena
filled me with men who were ready and had chosen
their weapons, so when the ball disappeared
for the last time all of us screamed
and rose from our seats so grateful
for our own violence which got us
this far without torture or mutilation,
and to one team brought to their knees,
and to the heroes, small in distance,
holding each other, rejoicing.

For more from WNYC's Poet in Residence, click here.

Poetry Links

www.onlinepoetryclassroom.org
Basic information about Elizabeth Bishop

Alfred A Knopf on Philip Levine
Information on many of Levine's books

A selection of Philip Levine's books

A New Selected Poems
Available for purchase at Amazon.com
The Simple Truth
Available for purchase at Amazon.com
The Mercy
Available for purchase at Amazon.com
What Work Is: Poems
Available for purchase at Amazon.com